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Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Chris_Docker8 / 10

Vivid and chilling

Enjoying a revival on the art-house circuit, this reconstruction of the
famous last battle fought on British soil uses modern documentary-style
reporting to convey immediacy. An effective and bloodthirsty film, it covers
a landmark period of Scots-Anglo history, showing not only the senseless
waste of human life, the total incompetence of the Bonnie Prince Charles as
a military leader, but the barbaric excesses of both Scots and English, and
the iniquity and the Scottish clan' system. The period opened the way for
the clearances' where indigenous people were shipped off and the land used
for (more profitable and less troublesome) sheep farming.

It really doesn't have anything very good to say about anyone, English or
Scots, but this won't stop many English feeling it is racist and one-sided
(just as the English critics as a whole were the only ones in the world to
lambaste the magnificently spectacular but historically inaccurate,
Braveheart). Watkins may well have had a political agenda  the film was
likened to a social commentary on the American involvement in Vietnam (as
the gutting of the Gaelic Highlands by the Noble Army was said to parallel
the pacification' of the Vietnamese by the U.S. Army). Culloden, however,
is not only a key historical massacre but almost part of Scottish folklore.
Arguing the details of the battle is still a not uncommon pub conversation,
especially to the north and west of the country. My favourite version is by
an elderly lady who lives near Culloden (just outside of Inverness) who
tells it like she was there'. The movie, although originally made for
television, is also a landmark, and riveting stuff, but whether it can
justifiably be used to further a pro-Scottish Independence agenda is much
shakier, given that it happened a long time ago.

Reviewed by Glenn Wade10 / 10

The first true depiction of war

Peter Watkins's much underestimated Docu-Drama that, frankly, has to be
watched by the individual to have the maximum impact. This is, without
doubt, the fairest and most realistic depiction of war in cinema
history. Here we have no poetic licence and no particular bias, despite
some claiming a strong swing in favour of the Jacobites. Men are men,
war is war and blood is blood.

There are few ways in which to describe this masterpiece in a simple
review. If you desire a stark wake up call to the brutality and pain
that war and Civil War creates, get hold of a copy of this film.

Peter Watkins' Culloden.

Culloden (1964) (TV) was a movie that was funded by the B.B.C. They
were impressed with Mr. Watkins work on the short Forgotten Faces. He
was hired as a B.B.C. staff film-maker. With a shoe-string budget and a
troop of amateur actors, Peter Watkins created a very controversial and
grim look at the decaying Scottish clan system and the British
occupation of Scotland. Whilst during the duration of the film Mr.
Watkins takes no side and scathingly shows how both sides of the
battlefield are morally and socially corrupt. Prince Bonnie Charles
Stuart (pretender to the throne) on the battle field against the
superior forces of the House of Hannover. The Jacobites didn't really
stand a chance against the World's greatest army. Stupidity and
jealousy ruined any chance they had.

Peter Watkins also showed the aftermath of the battle and the
devastating effects the battle had on the surrounding communities. He
shot this film in his trademark faux-documentary style. Even with a
small budget, Mr. Watkins still manages to create a very important
film. One that he spent months on researching and planning. The film
also reflects how the media treated combat as we have one the field
reports from the attacking army and interviews with the soldiers and
their views on the enemy.